The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

News broke yesterday that Nintendo is revising its projections for the Wii U downward as the console isn't living up to sales expectations. Nintendo originally forecasted 5.5M WiiU sales through March, but has now cut that number to 4M. Software sales predictions have also been trimmed back by at least a third as well.

What's the problem here? On the surface, it would seem that Nintendo had a whole holiday season to themselves with no other new consoles on the market to compete with. Not only that, but they were introducing a sequel to the wildly successful Wii, which blew away the last console generation in terms of sales.

But there are many, many factors working against Nintendo which have caused the Wii U to falter post-launch. Here are some of the issues that the company is likely facing which are holding back sales of the system. Some of these I've been talking about since before launch, and still hold true today.

1. The Gimmick isn't Relatable This Time

Perhaps "gimmick" implies an insult, but that's not the intent. Rather, it's something that differentiates new Nintendo systems from their competitors. The original Wii found great success because its motion control gimmick was easily explainable to non-gamers who wanted to buy the system. Motion controls for games like Wii Sports showed that when you swung you controller, your character swung his baseball bat, golf club or tennis racket. Even grandpa could figure that out in a few seconds, and so the Wii became a hit family console for a time.

The Wii U is not as easily explainable. Playing games with the aid of a handheld touchscreen very well might be fun, but trying to explain the concept to non-gamers isn't nearly as easy this time around. It makes for "unbalanced" multiplayer gameplay, as one player holds the gamepad and has a different role in a game than the other players, which can be a touch confusing for those new to the system. This new gimmick may be fun to use in a game like Nintendo Land, but it doesn't make for nearly as accessible of a system compared to the original Wii's simplistic "move the controller, move you character" concept.

2. Some Still May Not Understand It's a New Console

I'm willing to bet that this is a relatively low number of people at this point, but the Wii U has had a branding problem from the beginning. Some parents (potential buyers) may merely see the system as a controller upgrade for their existing Wii, which is not in fact the case at all.

Nintendo could have solved this problem by naming the system something that implied an entirely new console a bit more. I've heard "Super Wii" suggested more than once, and it's surely a better fit than "Wii U." It may seem silly that some may not understand what the Wii U actually is at this point, but I guarantee it's happening.

I also suspect that a few customers may be equating the tablet controller with an iPad, which is now a huge gaming device for younger kids. For ill-informed parents, they might wonder why they would buy a weird screen controller...thing, when they can just get an iPad instead, which what every kid wants these days anyway. And it's something they can use themselves as well for far more than just gaming.

3. The Old Wii Customer is Not a New Wii Customer

The Wii was a HUGE seller among non-gamers, but how many of them played the system for more than a few weeks after they bought it? A month? Six? A year?

The answer for non-gaming households is probably a very, very low number. The Wii was a must-have for a time, and was snapped up by many people who wouldn't normally invest in a console. But chances are, the system ended up functioning as a dust collector more than a game console after the novelty wore off.

This is why it's hard for Nintendo to get that same audience back. Consumers may have jumped at the trendy Wii during its initial release, but there's little to motivate them to purchase an entirely new $300 system if they remember that they haven't used their old one for more than a month or two since 2006. In short, the Wii may have sold well, but it didn't permanently convert many people into gamers.